Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-05-18


vanish from the earth. There are too
many tramps, bummers and worthless fell
lows. There IS no nObler thing on earth
than an honest man with iron viii and .
determination to support himself and his
am ratified q your invitation to speak
to You, because you are not only earning
your daily bread by your daily labor, bat
YOU understand the fundamental principle
on which society is based. They tell you
that labor and capital are antagonlstle;
but in your printed consultation you tell
me that the interests Of the members OF
your motherhood and those Of their en-
ployers being identical, you recognize the
necessity Of cooperation. As to capital,
what does common instinct teach a family
to do, but TO lay up a provision OF food for
the winter and get tools to work with!
And what are food and tools but capitalY
If the spirit of self devotion which enabled
our forefathers coming into a bowling viii
derness to subdue q continent so that we
NAV make flowers bloom where its forests
rev and from its praries feed not only
ourselves bat the whole world besides-lt
that spirit prevails there will be no need OF
organizations to abolish poverty. We can
not all be rich, but it is every mans duty
to save, and these accumulated savings
must be employed with not q dollar idle,
and 20 EMPLOYED, it's benefits must newt
ably be again distributed throughout the
land.
Let us see how far you are from being
ranitalists Your organization typifies the
principle that has done more than any
other 10 change the face of the earth, the
power of association. Suppose all the 30
900 locomotive firemen in the country
should lay aside each day the price of a
glass of beer. Have you ever thought what
that would amount to in q year?-$5oO,-
900. But you are not more than One-tenth
of the employees of q railroad. Ii all did
this you would lay by in a year s., 500, 600.
Now, suppose you took il into your heads
to buy up-let us take q big fish this time
the New York Central railroad. land
let me advise you, young men, when you
buy that road to bny its president tool
In eight years, for the price of a glass OF
beer a day, you could control that road
and run il tOsuit yourselves. use hisillus-
tration TO show you that ifthe employees do
not control a railroad 10 is neither because
they do not choose to or because they have
not the requisite capacity. You need Mr..
DeDew, and YOU can't buy him for 81 a
day; and You can't buy me. We are
wO-th more. Any man here Is worth
more-if he chooses to make himself so.
But there . time in the business
affairs of a community when some ma
chinery must stan. idle, and then 1t Is
that the biggest man, whether VI he Mr..
Depew or another, is he whose capacity
secures to his enterprise, not its share, but
u little more, and yOu get more locOmo-
tives TO run. Every cent yOu pay to sncn
a man is returned to you a hundred fold
in the opportunity for work that he gives
you.
see a transformation coming when yOu,
Intelligent workingmen, with q direct pc
cuniary interest in the earnings OF the
road, may 20 to the annual meeting OF the
New York Central Railroad Company and
call on Mr.. Depew, when he gives you
only two per cent dividends, to explain
WHY your capital has not done better.
And o will understand his explanation,
and the demagngues who have been telling
you that capitals profit is fifty per cent
will lose their influence over you. The
fact is that the employees get the whole IN
come except two, three, or at the most
six per cent. Do you suppose capt.
tai is going to take care OF itself
unless il is paid TODD so? Capital increases
faster than the means for utilizing 1T, and
it becomes less and less profitable. II
capital could be had for nothing you
might leave your locomotives and go home
tor q years vacation. And when that has
gone OH \ while YOU will find ii impossible
TO pick up q decent living on the remains
of a ruined civilization. Some dream
some delusion-may yet befOg the Ameri-
can mind. | may 20 down under IT.; 1t
NAV be too much for me now, but the
eternal truth will he indicated in the end
and the great doctrine of alnan's right to
himself will prevail as long rs this people
is fit to be free.
If HENRY GEORGE would urge upon
every man to organize an "anti-pOverty
society" of his W and 20 to work to
abolish his own poverty, he would accom-
plish much more toward making the
world happier and better. "There is no
a0Jler thing on earth than az honest mdH
,rith an iron triH aud a determination 10 sup
port himself and family"